Prediction & Prophecy Puzzle- Do you have a piece?

First let me state two beliefs I carry in regards to Predictions & Prophecies. First, I tend not to give too much credence to a single sourced
prediction. It's when several predictions and prophecies coincide that I begin to look at it seriously. Second, I look at such predictions and
prophecies objectively, removing any religious or cultural aspects. I believe that seers tend to intepret these visions and such through their own
culture and/or religious beliefs, thus these need to be removed to see the unbiased core.

Now to the purpose of this thread. There are a couple very time specific predictions and prophecies that are coming to their time. First is the
Mayan Calendar and it's prediction of the end of an era (and the begining of a new one) on 12/21/2012. In conjunction with this are the predictions
regarding the Papacy of St. Malachy, with the current Pope being the last one.

During all the hoopla of the Michael Jackson Memorials, with our attention firmly diverted, the Pope issued an
encyclical
(highest form of papal document) calling for the forming of a New World Order, with the Church playing a critical role. I would love to hear any
input on how this might link to Revelations by the more Biblically oriented.

There will definatly be a one world religion during tribulation If not before The ecumenical movement is proof.And it's all lead by the pagan
catholic church.A one-world religion is developing rapidly, and it will be an all-encompassing religion. Satan will energize this one-world religion
and work through the lawless one, better known as the Antichrist. He has two purposes:

1. To play the role of God and have people worship him. He will sit “in the temple of God displaying himself as being God” (2 Thessalonians
2:4).

2. To kill the true Christians and Jews. “… and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (Revelation 13:15).

My last article, posted on 1-31-09, was titled The Last Generation. The purpose of that article was to illustrate the acceleration of world
developments during the last generation beginning with the birth of Israel in 1948. That article helps set the stage for this article.

The Last Generation briefly covered all three pillars of a united world system that will need to be in place by or immediately following the beginning
of the seven-year tribulation period. The three pillars are:

One World Government
One World Economy
One World Religion
The pillar of the One World Government was given the most attention in the first article.

The focus of this article is to expand on the pillar of the coming One World Religion. I personally believe that the pillar of a global religion is
the foundation for both of the other two pillars—government and economy. What a group of people believe will determine their actions, such as
economic and political decisions. The world economic system gives the fuel needed to activate a complete world governmental control. This could be
illustrated by the following diagram:

Belief System [One World Religion] + Money [One World Economy] = Political Decisions [One World Government].

It has been said that politics and religion don’t mix. They don’t in the long run. But during most of the seven-year tribulation period, politics
and religion will go hand in hand. One current example of mixing religion and politics is the government of Iran. It is primarily run by the religious
clerics.

During the great tribulation (the last 3.5 years of the 7 year tribulation period) this buddy system of Antichrist (Political Ruler) and False Prophet
(Ruler of World Religion) will break down. The One World Government, led by the Antichrist, will destroy the One World Religion, led by the False
Prophet. The “beast” destroys the “harlot” (see Revelation 17:16-17).

This article was taken mainly from my recent book titled, The Last Generation: Prophecy, Current World Events, and the End Times. Ordering information
for this book will be given at the conclusion of the article.

Today, in this generation, we have seen the foundation being laid for a one-world religion. This world religion is symbolized in Scripture by “…
the great harlot who sits on many waters” (Revelation 17:1) and by the “… woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names …”
(Revelation 17:3).

Hallmarks of a False Religious System

In order to determine the validity of a religious belief system, it will prove helpful to look at some of the hallmarks of a false religious
system.

The hallmarks of a false religious system include, but are not limited to, the following four characteristics:

1. Compromise of Doctrine: One of the key phrases used in the European Union, as well as in the United States, is “Unity in Diversity.” This
sounds good on the surface. It means we are a unified but diverse group of people—all of the hallmarks of tolerance. This kind of unity in a world
religion necessitates a compromise of doctrine.

This great tolerance is promoted in almost every area. The major exceptions are biblical Christianity and Judaism. The world religion will be tolerant
of everything but the TRUTH.

2. Experience Based: “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You” (Matthew 12:38). There is an escalating trend worldwide toward an experience-based
religion and an experienced-based Christianity. More people are traveling to many places where they say God is manifesting Himself through signs and
wonders. These manifestations are, in many cases, apparitions of Mary, the mother of Jesus, or of angels, but rarely of Jesus. It is important for us
to remind ourselves that biblically based Christianity is always founded on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Paul warned the Galatians not to be fooled by people distorting the gospel of Jesus Christ. He states:

“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed” (Galatians
1:8).
In many cases, there are reported apparitions of Mary witnessed by Christians, unbelievers, and Muslims. The messages are oftentimes contrary to
God’s Word. One of the tests of the validity of a reported vision and the credibility of the messenger (in recent years these visions are usually
apparitions of Mary) involves:
The content of the message given. If the message contradicts God’s Word, the Bible, the message is not valid.
The credibility of the messenger. If the message is not valid, this takes away from the credibility of the messenger. It is important to remember that
“… Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
3. Provides a Broad Road to Salvation: One rapidly growing belief system is that of universalism, which is another lie. It promotes the belief that
there are many paths to God. While this may be a “politically correct” theology in our day, it is the neo-paganism of the New Age. This belief is
addressed by Jesus when He said,

“… I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6).
This “all roads lead to Rome” belief is very common today. It runs against the grain of unbelievers and, in many cases, Christians don’t believe
or want to believe what Jesus said (there is only one way). It is probably not the best way to begin sharing the gospel with an unbeliever unless you
really believe that God is leading you in that direction.

4. Counterfeit Miracles: Miracles are powerful! A miracle will convince an individual of the validity of a particular belief system faster than
anything else. Consider the False Prophet found in the Book of Revelation (16:13; 20:10). He is the Antichrist’s right hand man. He is symbolized as
the second “beast” (Revelation 13:11-12). The first “beast” is the Antichrist (described in Revelation 16:1-10). The False Prophet “…
performs great signs [miracles] … he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs …” (Revelation 13:13-14) [brackets added].

Satan has the ability to perform miracles, but his tendency is to counterfeit God’s miracles. One example of Satan counterfeiting miracles can be
found in Exodus, Chapter Seven. Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Through God’s power Moses and Aaron perform miracles,
i.e., Aaron’s staff turns into a serpent. The magicians of Egypt “did the same with their secret arts” (Exodus 7:11). The Lord tells Moses to
direct Aaron to stretch out his staff, and he turns the rivers, streams, and pools into blood. The False Prophet “performs great signs, so that he
even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men” (Revelation 13:13).

Over the last ten to fifteen years, there has been a greater orientation toward the supernatural. This can be good in some cases. Unfortunately, it
also opens the door to Satan to perform visions and apparitions that appear to come from God. The Marian apparitions are appearing worldwide and the
message is peace, unity, and tolerance. The impact of these apparitions has been so powerful that they have cut across religious denominations
worldwide, INCLUDING ISLAM.

Points 2 and 4 above are both experientially based. In essence, both points say that a person’s experience dictates their theology. This is putting
the cart before the horse, so to speak. A person’s theology should be the criteria for evaluating their experience. When this is reversed, every
imaginable heresy will be the outcome. We are living in an experience-based society. This society determines their beliefs based on their experience.
This has been a characteristic of this last generation.

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